Pastry cutting apparatus



Nov. 22, 1966 G. G. LARSON 3,286,349

PASTRY CUTTING APPARATUS Filed June 12, 1964 f :1 75 9 "i 3 7d- 7; Q

&4 i A? a j 5 10 INVENTOR.

GEaeGE G. Lmesm/ ZMW United States Patent Oflfice Patented Nov. 22, 1966 3,286,349 PASTRY CUTTING APPARATUS George G. Larson, 8424 Rindge Ave., Playa Del Rey, Calif. Filed June 12, 1964, Ser. No. 374,571 4 Claims. (Cl. 30292) The present invention relates to cutter apparatus, and more particularly to an improved rotary disc cutter apparatus which is especially well suited to the cutting of pastry, such as pizza pies or the like.

Heretoiore, disc cutters have been employed for cutting pizza and other pies, such cutter devices in general comprising an elongate handle which supports at one end a rotary disc, the disc axis intersecting the longitudinal axis of the handle. In the use of such cutters, the handle, gripped in a users hand, constitutes a long lever having a fulcrum at the point of contact with the pie or the underlying plate or support, thus requiring substantial manual strength to force the cutter disc through the pie to cut the same while holding the handle against movement about the fulcrum.

In addition, since the cutter devices must be periodically cleaned, their ready disassembly rfior this purpose is desirable.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a rotary disc cutter apparatus having an improved disc support and handle construction which enables the application of adequate pressure to the pie, or other matter being cut, with ease, the disc support and handle being so constructed as to be gripped by a portion projecting outwardly from the support portion.

Another object of the invention is to provide a disc cutter apparatus wherein the cutter disc is remov-ably supported by a novel bearing and pin construction, which, in addition, affords substantial axial stability, notwithstanding the application of forces to the disc in a direction at an angle to the plane of the disc.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a durable and inexpensive disc cutter assembly which may be advantageously formed of molded plastic material, such as polystyrene plastics, all of the components being composed of such plastic material except for the cutter per set Yet another object of the invention is to provide a novel cutter apparatus of the disc type which is safe to use, inasmuch as it is provided with a guard to prevent contact by the fingers of the user with the cutter element.

This invention possesses many other advantages, and has other objects which may be made more clearly apparent from a consideration of a form in which it may be embodied. This form is shown in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the present specification. It will now be described in detail, for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention; but it is to be understood that such detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, showing a rotary disc cutter apparatus for pizza or other pies or the like, made in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view in end elevation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is'an enlarged fragmentary view in section as take non the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view in section as taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view as taken on the line 55 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view in section showing the marginal structure of the cutter disc.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the ilustrative cutter apparatus comprises a body having an arched pistol-grip handle portion 1 joining a disc support portion 2, these portions generally projecting substantially at right angles to one another, a rotary cutter disc 3, and mounting means 4 rotatably supporting the cutter disc on the free end of the disc support portion 2.

In its preferred form, there is a thumb-engaging projection 5 at the juncture of the handle and support portions and a guard 6 projecting from the support portion between the cutter disc and the handle.

By virtue of the construction generally described above, the pistol grip handle 1 may be grasped in the hand by a user, the thumb engaged with the projection 5 and substantial cutting pressure applied to the cutter disc through the support portion 2, without requiring that the user resist angular movement of the support member, as has heretofore been the case with conventional devices.

The handle and disc support portions are preferably composed of a pair of complemental body parts 7 and 8 which may be formed of suitable plastic material, the respective parts having side walls 7a and 8a and peripheral flanges 7b and 8b, these peripheral flanges abutting with one another at the median plane of the body. Means are provided for securing the body parts together with the flanges 7b and 8b in abutting engagement.

In the present embodiment the securing means are formed in the molding operation by the provision of complemental pin recesses and pins 70 and 86 within the body parts 7 and 8, respectively.

The cutter disc 3 is supported upon the bearing means 4 between spaced extensions 7d and 8d projecting (from the free end of the disc support portions 7, 8. These extensions define a slot 9 therebetween for accommodating the cutter disc.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 5, the bearing means comprises a headed member 10 having a polygonal portion 11 adapted to extend through a polygonal opening 12 at the axis of the disc 3. A retainer ring 13 having an opening complementa-l with the portion 11 of the member 10 is pressed onto the latter to hold the disc in contact with the head 14 of the member 10, so that the disc is centrally supported between the retainer and the head. The bearing member 10 fits between the walls 7d and 8d in proximity to annular flanges 7e and 8e which are opposed to one another. A pin 15 having a head 16 engageable with the wall 8d of the support member extends through an opening 16a in the wall 8d, through an opening 17 in the bearing member 10 and into an opening 18 in the wall 7d so as to support the bearing means for rotation in the slot 9. Prefer-ably, as a means for retaining the pin 15 in place, opening 18 is smaller than opening 16a, or in other words smaller than the end of pin 15 so that the pin is frictionally and removably gripped by the wall 7d in the opening 18.

At the top of the disc supporting body portion 2, at its juncture with the handle portion 1, the thumb-engaging projection 5 is formed by generally triangular parts 7g and 8g of the body halves 7 and 8. The parts 7g and 8g cooperatively provide a surface 5a which is at an obtuse angle relative to the upper handle wall and is serrated or ribbed to facilitate the application of thumb pressure downwardly on the support portion 2 during the cutting of a pie or the like with the cutter 3.

Guard member 6 is formed in the present embodiment by outwardly extended generally triangular elements 7 and 81 having an extension 9a of the slot 9 therebetween.

The illustrated cutter is so formed as to have a sharp cutting edge 3a, but since a very sharp cutting edge is not necessary or even desirable, the disc, including edge 3a,

may have a plating 3b thereon to dull the edge and to provide a rust-proof and attractive finish.

In the use of the cutter device to cut a pizza pie, other pie, or the like, the user will grip the handle 1 by wrapping his fingers about the pistol grip, with the thumb engaging the surface a of thumb pressure projection 5. A direct downward force may be applied by the user through the body portion 2 to the cutter 3, the thumb and palm of the users hand contacting the handle at spaced locations for stability and ease of manipulation. A stroke with the device Will thus easily sever the pizza or the like by the pressure applied to the cutter blade 3, as it revolves about the pin 15.

To clean the assembly it is only necessary to withdraw the pin 15 to release the cutter disc 3 and the bearing means from the support portion 2 of the body. The bearing assembly may then be removed from the disc by removal of the retainer 13 from the polygonal portion 11 of the bearing member 10, and the latter may then be removed from the cutter disc. Otherwise the body may be cleaned or washed without disassembly.

I claim:

1. A rotary disc cutter apparatus comprising: a disc having an outer marginal cutting edge, a support member, means rotatably mounting said disc on said support member with the latter projecting radially from said disc and beyond the periphery of said disc, a handle disposed entirely outwardly of the periphery of said disc and secured to the outer portion of said support member at a location beyond the periphery of said disc and projecting from said outer portion of said support member substantially at right angles to said support member, and a projection at the upper juncture of said handle and the outer portion of said support member in alignment with said support member providing a thumb piece engageable by the thumb of a user, whereby thumb pressure on said thumb piece passes substantially radially through said support member and through the axis of said disc.

2. A rotary disc cutter apparatus comprising: a disc having an outer marginal cutting edge, a support member, means rotatably mounting said disc on said support member with the latter projecting radially from said disc and beyond the periphery of said disc, a handle disposed entirely outwardly of the periphery of said disc and secured to the outer portion of said support member at a location beyond the periphery of said disc and projecting from said outer portion of said support member substantially at right angles to said support member, and a guard portion projecting outwardly from said support member between said handle and said cutting edge, said guard portion being closely adjacent to and curved around said cutting edge.

3. A rotary disc cutter apparatus comprising: a body composed of a pair of complemental parts abutting with one another on the median plane of said body, means securing said parts together, said body having a handle portion and a disc supporting portion projecting substantially at right angles to one another, opposed side Walls of said body parts forming said disc supporting portion being extended at the free end of said disc supporting portion in spaced relation to one another and forming a discreceiving slot, a cutter disc rotatably disposed in said slot, means rotatably supporting said cutter disc from said disc supporting portion, said disc supporting portion being substantially radially of said disc and projecting radially beyond the periphery of said disc, said handle portion being disposed entirely outwardly of the periphery of said disc and secured entirely to said disc supporting portion at a location beyond the periphery of said disc, and a projection at the junction of said disc supporting and handle portions having a surface merging with said handle portion and disposed at an obtuse angle relative'thereto, whereby thumb pressure on said projection passes substantially radially through said disc supporting portion and through the axis of said disc.

4. A rotary disc cutter apparatus comprising: a body composed of a pair of complemental parts abutting with one another on the median plane of said body, means securing said parts together, said body having a handle portion and a disc supporting portion projecting substan-v tially at right angles to one another, opposed side walls of said body parts forming said disc supporting portion being extended at the free end of said disc supporting portion in spaced relation to one another and forming a disc-receiving slot, a cutter disc rotatably disposed in said slot, means rotatably supporting said cutter disc from said disc supporting portion, said d'sc supporting portion being substantially radially of said disc and projecting radially beyond the periphery of said disc, said handle portion being disposed entirely outwardly of the periphery of said disc and secured entirely to said disc supporting portion at a location beyond the periphery of said disc, said cutter disc supporting means including a bearing supporting said cutter disc and engaging said spaced walls and a pin extending through said spaced walls and through said bearing, said bearing comprising a polygonal member, said cutter disc having a central opening of polygonal form in which said polygonal member is disposed, and a disc retainer member engaged with said polygonal member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 804,520 11/1905 Colthar 30292 X 1,754,543 4/1930 Callum 30-295 1,828,621 10/1931 Roberts 30-319 X 1,963,425 6/1934 Stine 30292 2,736,092 2/1956 Joyet 30307 FOREIGN PATENTS 600,417 4/ 1948 Great Britain.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examin r.

I. C. PETERS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A ROTARY DISC CUTTER APPARATUS COMPRISING: A DISC HAVING AN OUTER MARGINAL CUTTING EDGE, A SUPPORT MEMBER, MEANS ROTATABLY MOUNTING SAID DISC ON SAID SUPPORT MEMBER WITH THE LATTER PROJECTING RADIALLY FROM SAID DISC AND BEYOND THE PERIPHERY OF SAID DISC, A HANDLE DISPOSED ENTIRELY OUTWARDLY OF THE PERIPHERY OF SAID DISC AND SECURED TO THE OUTER PORTION OF SAID SUPPORT MEMBER AT A LOCATION BEYOND THE PERIPHERY OF SAID DISC AND PROJECTING FROM SAID OUTER PORTION OF SAID SUPPORT MEMBER SUBSTANTIALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO SAID SUPPORT MEMBER, AND A PROJECTION AT THE UPPER JUNCTURE OF SAID HANDLE AND THE OUTER PORTION OF SAID SUPPORT MEMBER IN ALIGNMENT WITH SAID SUPPORT MEMBER PROVIDING A THUMB PIECE ENGAGEABLE BY THE THUMB OF A USER, WHEREBY THUMB PRESSURE ON SAID THUMB PIECE PASSES SUBSTANTIALLY RADIALLY THROUGH SAID SUPPORT MEMBER AND THROUGH THE AXIS OF SAID DISC. 